1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to meat-cutting devices and particularly to a power-driven meat-cutting tool adapted to be manually held and manipulated for the quick and easy removal of meat from carcasses and bones. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved blade holder for rotatably mounting the blade on the handle consisting of two separate components, both of which can be produced at a lower cost than the prior one-piece all-metal blade holders, and in which only one of the components periodically requires replacement, thereby resulting in a savings to the ultimate user.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various styles of power-driven meat-cutting tools have been devised wherein a ring blade is rotatably mounted within a holder which, in turn, is mounted on a manually operated power-driven handle. These tools have been used for some time to facilitate the removal of meat from a carcass, primarily in a trimming operation, or for removing the meat remains from the animal bones. Examples of such meat-cutting tools are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,024,532, 3,176,397, 3,269,010, 3,461,557 and 3,852,882.
One of the preferred types of such meat-cutting tools is the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,269,010. This tool consists on an annular metal ring having an internal blade mounting groove formed therein, with a pair of metal scalloped lugs being formed on opposite sides of a split in the ring and formed integrally with the metal of the ring. A gear-receiving chamber is formed in the scalloped lugs in addition to mounting holes for attaching the blade holder to an end of a power-driven handle. These types of blade holders are formed entirely of metal and require a considerable number of machining and metal working operations to form the final configuration from a piece of tubular metal stock.
Proper heat treatment of these prior blade holder constructions also is difficult due to the relatively thin wall thickness of the ring blade or race portion in contrast to the considerably thicker scalloped mounting flange portions of the blade holder. These uneven wall thicknesses can result in fatigue in the thinner split ring during the heat-treating procedure lessening the ring life. Also, the ring portion of the blade holder becomes worn after a certain period of use, requiring replacement of the entire blade holder since the scalloped mounting flanges are formed integrally with the ring, even though they are not worn or damaged.
Many of these problems have been eliminated by my improved blade holder and method of making the same in which the scalloped mounting lugs are injection molded on a metal insert ring, as shown and described in my copending application Ser. No. 061,593, filed July 30, 1979, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,531.
In certain meat-trimming operations, these plastic molded mounting lugs may show excess fatigue than desirable due to the extreme forces and stresses placed thereon during the particular meat-trimming procedure. Therefore, it is desirable that the mounting flanges be formed of metal or of a stronger synthetic material to eliminate this excess fatigue without forming the entire blade holder as an integral one-piece member.
No blade holder construction of which I am aware has eliminated these costly metal-working procedures and fatigue problems by a two-piece blade holder in which the blade-holding mounting ring and mounting plate are formed as separate components and detachably connected together when mounting the holder on the end of a power-driven handle.